The Pragmatist
by BashiYami
Summary: A Pragmatist: a person who takes a practical approach to problems and is concerned primarily with the success or failure of his or her actions. That's the kind of people they were. Emotions had never been a problem before.  Rating may go up.
1. Prologue

'_I don't care.'_

The orchestra had stopped, the attendees were spooked, and… why was Miroku chasing a chicken? Clawed fingers clutched at the leather padding of the armchair.

'_I don't care.'_

"Things are well, my lord?" Of course, _she_ had to rub it in his face. Appearing silently, as she always did, amber clashed with piercing blue as he fought down his surprise. He wouldn't give her the satisfaction.

"Fuck off, I don't need your help."

"Obviously," The sound of breaking porcelain reached them. He cringed, she didn't. Petulance wasn't tolerated here. She knew that; soon, he would too. "And your guests?" She ventured, surveying the damage.

'_I don't care.'_

Annoyed amber searched among the chaos. Sango was trying to calm down an elderly patron, Shippo was trying not to get squashed underfoot, and Miroku… was otherwise occupied. Damn that arrogant prick anyway, leaving him to clean up his mess.

"Fine." Reaching into his pocket, he reluctantly retrieved a ring. Amongst the portentous finery displayed that evening, it wasn't anything special. Crushed cobalt and white gold set in a modest, hexagonal design of his family's crest. The new lord forced the offensive ornament on his thumb without hesitation. The less he thought about it the better.

'_I don't care.'_

"Your orders?" Full lips curved into what he swore was a smug grin at his expense.

A snarl forced its way out of his throat. "Don't fuck with me, just do it."

She turned away. "As you wish."

A/N: I've been writing for a while now, but never really posted anything. So, since the misguided authors on my author's alert list haven't updated in awhile because they probably thing their Christmas specials will make up for it, I've decided to post a little something of my own.

Tell me if you like it and if I should continue this, k?

Happy Holidays!


	2. Chapter 1

_24 hours earlier…  
_

"You're lying!" All activity stopped in the corridor as the servants gave each other helpless looks. Such an outburst was inevitable; expected, even.

"Lord InuYasha, calm yeself down. We-"

"No! You didn't look hard enough! You expect me to believe that after all this time he'd just up and die because of a few rocks?" The young hanyou snorted at such a thought. "As if he'd be that easy to kill."

The head servant gave a deep sigh. Elderly and world-weary as she was, Kaede never expected the delivery of such news to be easy. She had cared and cultured the pup as best she could in a demon household, given him a firm hand when his world unhinged, and a warm breast when life became too harsh. But to deliver him such news in her lifetime…

It was true that he and his elder brother's relationship was uneasy at best. Be that as it may, no matter how challenging it was for them they were each other's only family; no one knew that better than they.

She herself, as well as the rest of the staff, had only heard news of the accident early this morning. As the head of the household when her lord was on leave, the duty fell onto her to inform InuYasha, as well as making the preparations for the new rule of the House of Dogs. After all, the estate could not carry on without a head, and she would rather ready her charge for the path ahead of him now than act as dowager. Her fellow _demon_ denizens would not take well to a human ruler in the house of the Inu no Taisho, even if she was a miko.

Wanting to keep the damage to a minimum, hasty provisions were made to give her lord – no, her former lord – a proper sendoff. One the stubborn mule before her was currently refusing to attend.

Kaede heaved another sigh. "InuYasha, I know this is hard to accept, and on-"

"Hard? Try fucking impossible! I'll go, but only to see what this shit storm you've been tryin' to feed me is all about. I'll pull that fucker out of the ground myself if I have to!" With that, InuYasha dismissed her by storming to his room down the hall.

Kaede raised two weathered fingers to pinch the bridge of her nose. She was too old for this.

At least it seemed she had gotten him to attend his own dinner at the main house. Those at the funeral procession could be told the new lord had been hindered by necessary preparations for the move.

Gentle tinkling brought her out of her reverie. "How is he?"

A subtle crash at the end of the hall sounded. "As well as can be expected, Houshi-sama."

Stifling another sigh, Kaede thought to check on the stable hand's progress. Messengers had already been sent out with word of the feast to be held in honor of their new lord. They would have to leave tonight to have a chance of arriving at a reasonable time to organize themselves.

Moving to leave, she was stopped by a gentle hand on her shoulder.

"Kaede-sama, if I may be so bold…"

"Speak ye mind child," she said with a frown. It wasn't like him to be hesitant.

"Even with the rain we've had these past few weeks-" She didn't miss the tightening of his hand on his staff as he chose his words. "Could you imagine a landslide fierce enough to bury the Inu no Taisho?"

Kaede wasn't blind, not yet at least. Her one eye was still sharp enough to see the implication behind the monk's words. "I suppose we shall see for ourselves tomorrow. Goodnight."

* * *

It wasn't until the first light of dawn that they saw their destination. Stopping only once to feed and rest the horses, their small troupe journeyed the remaining distance without much difficulty.

Carriage rocking on the cobblestone, Kaede doubted she would have gotten much sleep even if she were safely back in her quarters. Sorting, planning, reading, writing – oh the paperwork – orders to be given, commissions to be done, letters, costs, charges…and the _paperwork_. Despite somewhat sharing the burden of command, Kaede had never fully realized how much her lord had done for them, if the ache steadily building between her eyes were any indication.

InuYasha had hardly been able to rest since the start of this whole ordeal, and few other than she knew how heavy a toll it took on him. Parting delicate satin to peer at the carriage in front of hers, the elderly miko decided it had been a good decision to leave her young ward to his thoughts.

Rapping from the coach hand brought her out of her reverie. "Kaede-sama, we'll be arriving shortly!" Not bothering to reply, Kaede gathered her documents, smoothed out imaginary wrinkles from her clothes and thought over her morning duties once more: a small breakfast before shooing the new lord off to bed, doubtless that stubborn inuhanyou hadn't gotten much sleep on the ride over. Her carriage was brought to a halt, stopping her musings short. Smoothing her attire once more, Kaede accepted the hand offered to her by the young monk waiting outside her coach door and looked upon the estate she hadn't thought to see again so soon. It had to have been at least three years, if her disillusioned memory still served. If Miroku noticed her sullen expression, he said nothing.

"Shall I fetch InuYasha?"

Kaede turned from the monk to greet the head servants. "Please do."

Yuka was a responsible girl, she remembered. It was not a surprise to her to see her at the head of the small party sent to greet them. Bowing low, the apposite girl was truly happy to see her old mentor return. "Welcome back, Kaede-sama. It's good to see you are in good health."

"Yuka, I see ye have done well in my absence, child. Time does not stand still, not even for this old miko."

"Things are not that much different, Kaede-sama. Ayumi-chan's been in especially high spirits since she heard you'd be coming back to us."

Laughing softly, Kaede asked, "Yes, how is that silly girl?"

"Seven months pregnant, if you can believe it," Yuka said with a quiet chuckle.

"Umm, Kaede-sama?"

"So that fool Kenichi finally propositioned her I see. Her first child?" Kaede inquired, eyes and mouth crinkling in a smile.

"Kaede-sama?"

"Third actually. He proposed almost right after you left," Yuka explained, seeing the surprise on Kaede's face.

"Kaede-sama, if I may…"

Sighing, Kaede turned to the insistent monk at her side. "Yes, Houshi-sama, what is it?"

Steadying himself, the young monk decided that the path to clemency lay not in evasion. "InuYasha's gone."

* * *

Ayumi had always been fond of rising early and greeting the day with the peaceful morning twittering of the birds outside. Coupled with the excitement of seeing her friend and mentor after such a long period had her practically rising with the sun. Today was going to be a good day she thought, smiling to herself.

* * *

"_**What?**_"

A/N: Chapters are going to get longer later on, the first few intro chapters always drag on for me…

And for the love of god, can anyone tell me where my dividers keep disappearing to?


	3. Chapter 2

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